Arche Hellenike
Arche Hellenike, literally the Greek Empire, is a major faction in the Hekastos Allotrioi Barbaron Esti universe. It is the only faction aside from the League of Planet-States to possess more than one planet in its entirety, and is the largest faction by land size. Starcraft-like Origins Exodus Also see: Kallistrata Pellaia The origins of the first populations of Arche Hellenike came in a fashion very much like those who settled on Koprulu Sector in Starcraft Universe, meaning the populations were made of exiles unwanted by the major power in Terra, the Socivm Amicorvm. However, unlike the Starcraft counterpart, the founders of Arche Hellenike were alone, and were under the leadership of Kallistrata, who was also the first fully sentient android built whose class is dubbed Strategoi, as the development took place in Greece, and were designed primarily to be used in military purposes. The exiles landed on its capital world Meizotere Hellas in G2036, and cities developed quickly given the capital stored within the ships. As they were united under Kallistrata, the fledging exiles quickly developed a utopian society based on socialism and democracy. Combining the downtoning of the social scope of government with political dissidents of Socivm Amicorvm, Meizotere Hellas quickly became a cradle of utopian societies running under different principles, something that Kallistrata was happy to see as Kallistrata wished to study the actual applications of different political ideologies. Birth of the Arche Meizotere Hellas was now a decentralized planet consisting of different utopian and non-utopian societies, with Kallistrata's polis of Pella at the vanguard. However, as population started to grow, even the very rich (organically and inorganically) environment of Meizotere Hellas started to feel bit too narrow for all the societies. The most discontent of them all would be the libertarians, many under the unfortunate delusion that all other types of government involved initiation of force, and hence immoral. With the pacifists and pragmatic libertarians quickly squelched by the hawks, the libertarians started to pressure other city-states, particularly the socialist and communist ones. As the rhetoric grew more grating, many of the city-states had enough, and soon war erupted between the city-states of Meizotere Hellas. For the libertarians, this turn of events couldn't turn better, as they believed that initiation of force was a cardinal sin: and because the other city-states initiated force on them (i.e. attack), they could claim legitimacy of their actions, and hence mobilization of libertarian city-states went very quickly and very smoothly. Given their love of guns, their high marksmanship gave them an edge against the other folks not so happy about privately owned firearms, and soon libertarians started to dominate Meizotere Hellas. Growing overconfident, the libertarians provoked Kallistrata's Pella, which was still considered a reputable arbitrator amongst the Meizotere Hellas's city-states. Kallistrata soon had enough of the libertarians, and rallied the neutral city-states as well, which were by then disgusted by the dogmatism rampant among the right-wing dominated libertarian city-states. Now with numerical advantage and with constant guerilla attacks against the libertarians by the communists and the socialists, the libertarians eventually took heavy losses and were on brink of defeat. Given the rampant absolutism, they had no intention of capitulation, as they feared it meant a statist rule over them. So Kallistrata offered them the choice to leave on the original ship that took the exiles to Megale Hellas, and the libertarians chose to leave, effectively restoring peace within Meizotere Hellas. Now with Kallistrata gaining more reputation, many of the city-states offered Kallistrata a leadership position in a new league of city-states, to which Kallistrata accepted without hesitation. By then, Kallistrata grew weary of utopianism, and started to look much more pragmatically: the libertarian ruckus made Kallistrata distrustful of dogmatic and extremist political ideologies, and thus Kallistrata grew much less open to multiplicity of political thoughts. As a result, Kallistrata took to a campaign to remove such ideologies, marking them as xenophobic and hence barbarian. With each campaign Kallistrata's political clout grew, and it was only a matter of time before the city-states grew more reliant on Kallistrata's rule or eviscerated. This left Kallistrata the hegemon, and hence the Arche was born. Ruckus at Polysiton ''Also see: Demokratidai '' Politics While the Arche Hellenike is dubbed the Empire, ever since the aftermath of the Xenophobic War the Arche has grown to become a constitutional monarchy with a heavy technocratic flavor. Kallistrata is the Strategos Autokrator and had the power to veto decisions, often allowing Kallistrata to be the one to have the final say in most decisions. Nevertheless, Kallistrata's actual power was diminished since the terrible early stages of the Xenophobic War, and bureaucracy and the legislature are the ones making the daily decisions of the state. While Kallistrata still retains the ability to pursue executive actions and to propose bills as well, legislative bills would have to be approved by the senate like any other bills in the Arche, and the executive actions could be struck down. The Xenophobic War's impact on the government was the ability of the government to override the veto of the Strategos Autokrator, effectively making Kallistrata emperor in name only. Nevertheless, Kallistrata's position as Strategos Autokrator meant that Kallistrata had the army, but the Xenophobic War significantly dented the influence of the army, and caused Kallistrata to adopt a less imperialistic viewpoint. Ultimately, the 3rd Amendment of the Hellenic Imperial Constitution meant that the Strategoi and all Automatons manufactured by the Arche's state institutions were forbidden from harming non-violent citizens, making coups increasingly difficult. Culture and Technology Culturally speaking, Arche Hellenike pursues modernization of the Ancient Greek culture, which is a direct result of the Greek heritage of Kallistrata Pellaia and the Strategoi as a whole. However, in effect, Arche Hellenike is a multicultural state with Greek culture as the preeminent culture, followed by various other cultures, most notably the Islamic one and the Korean one, former a result of Kallistrata's pro-Islamic bent that was fostered by the liberal Shareef Al-Shadid's open-minded nature that allowed his son Usuma Al-Shadid to form Islamic enclaves, and the latter formed by cultural exchanges with the amiable kingdom of Baekryeoh. Arche Hellenike is the leader in transhumanist thoughts and works, led by Kallistrata. To that matter, Kallistrata's disdain for atavistic desires stemmed from Kallistrata's origins, as well as the time spared from thinking or engaging in it to be spent in more productive manners, have translated into the general disdain for sex in the transhumanist circles. As a significant portion of the original residents of the initial colonization of Meizotere Hellas were castrated, artificial humans have been essential in maintaining human population in Arche Hellenike, further reducing the position of sex in the Imperial culture. To further supplement the workforce, Arche is a regular employer and manufacturer of androids as well as less advanced robots. Disdain for sex in the Arche stems from the fact that a good number of the initial settlers who weren't castrated were sexual deviants, and thus many of them had STDs. In fact, it was the strong demonization of sex (which wasn't difficult given the ever-so-present fear of STDs) and the rise of artificial population replenishing method to prominence that curbed STD from the residents of Meizotere Hellas. Given the indispensibility of artificial augmentation of the workforce including but not limited to cybernetics and artificial life, technocratic and transhumanist beliefs stand as mainstream philosophies in the Arche to the point Kallistrata's brand of Transhumanism has been given an official status of a cult in the Arche, and it is a leading academic force in the Phrontisterion of Meizon Pella in the form of the Mechanical College. Asides from transhumanism, education itself is highly valued and is a central part of the Neohellenistic culture. While the Phrontisterion of Meizon Pella is the most prestigious school in Segmentum Asia, there are also other alternatives such as the Pandidakterion of Theodosion, the Argeadeia located in Hesperis, and the Ptolemaion in Masos, with lesser-known Phrontisteria and Pandidakteria spread throughout the empire's borders. Military technology is a big factor in the Arche, and a large portion of the Phrontisterion, including the Mechanical College, spends at least some portion of the resources to improving the military wares of the Arche to ward off the ever-so-vigorous libertarians of the Tropas Libre. In fact, the economic requisition to military is just as pronouced as the academic efforts, and military-industrial complex occupies a huge portion of the industrial portion of Meizon Pella, which composes a great portion of the metropolitan area. This translates into spilled benefits to the private industries, particularly the electronic capital: computing systems are commonplace in the Arche, especially at Meizotere Hellas, although colonies, such as Anatole, are also gaining centers of technology as well. The intellect is something highly valued in the Arche. Two aspects of intellect particularly valued are retaining capabilities and creative capabilities. To that matter, the Arche's society has evolved to create two classes: the Technopharmakeis, or the Techmages, who are the epitomes of creativity, and the Grammateis, who serve to hold massive amounts of data and thus are the ultimate encyclopedias. Given the shared technologies in creating both, the boundaries between the Technopharmakeis and the Empeirioi are rather thin. However, since creativity in machines are much more difficult to create, the general concensus in the Arche is that the Technopharmakeis are of the higher echelon. Units The Arche uses the standard SI units in everyday use, although the Arche also uses the Hellenic units such as stadion as well. Nonetheless, the usage of Hellenic units is largely limited to small-scale intraplanetary matter, while scientific, engineering, and extra-planetary matters are handled with SI units. Arche uses the drachma as the base unit of currency. The Imperial drachma is not like the ancient drachma in that the drachma is not fixed to a standard wage system (i.e. 1 drachma for a day's work), although it is still fixed to price of a unit weight of a metal. Currently, 1 drachma is equivalent to .356720 (± .000000323) kg of gold. The higher and lower units of currency mirrors that of the ancient Greeks. However, the 3rd lowest denomination (and the lowest in the classical world), the lepton, is clearly defined as one 96th of a drachma. There are additional units; the Megethon, equivalent to thousand Talanton, the Paroikos, equivalent to 1/50th of a lepton, and the Hekatonakes, equivalent to 1/100th of a Paroikos. There are subdivisions of the lepton to reflect the rather high value of the drachma, divided into units of 60. As of June 28, 2013, the price of gold was around 39.52$ per g. As such, it can be concluded that the approximate value of an Imperial Drachma is $14,100, although the gold prices recently went up from a few days. Given the enormous value of an Imperial Drachma, the smallest units, the Paroikos and Hekatonakes, are the most commonly used currency in daily use. While the Drachma is nominally pinned to a weight of gold, the Drachma functions as a fiat currency in that the Arche is not obligated to exchange the metal for the paper bills. Because of this, the libertarians could not withdraw gold out of the Arche treasury to devalue the currency, which was already the dominant currency in Segmentum Asia given the relative importance of Meizotere Hellas caused by its largest trading web. Oikonomia Arche Hellenike operates on a mixed economy, having both a state-owned component, which is technically led by a bureaucratic body but effectively influenced by the board of experts and economists put in place to minimize the problem associated with bureaucratic boggling that ruined planned economies such as that of the USSR. Nonetheless, the military-industrial complex occupies a fairly large portion of the Arche's GDP, much like the case of the Soviet Union. The overall policy is fairly similar to Lenin's New Economic Policy, and hence a good chunk of heavy industry, mostly allocated to producing military and aerospace goods, belongs to the government, but smaller industries, such as food processing, are almost entirely under private hands. However, Businesses are regulated heavily to enforce safety standards while ineffective programs like production quotas are non-existent. The NEP's moderate approach was chosen by Kallistrata, believing that some capitalist motivation was required to develop the capital necessary for the transhumanist postcapitalism, which is basically the rationale Lenin has cited when implementing the fairly capitalist NEP. As government controls most of spacefaring ship constructing capital, shipping is one of the ways government earns revenue, either by renting cargo ships to private enterprises, or if the private enterprise was wealthy enough, sell them to willing buyers. Likewise, government also comprises a huge part of Arche's financial market, which is due to its policy of providing low-interest loans to hopeful entrepreneurs, as well as its stringent regulation that discouraged a large private entity from playing a big role in the financial market. As an economy with socialist roots, it does inherit the USSR problem of a lower focus on consumer goods (meaning price of living is quite high). However, given the system that encourages private endeavors to fill the gap, the Arche's consumer good market is much better than that of the USSR. Likewise, Arche also boasts one of the highest human capital in Segmentum Asia (as did USSR in Cold War), being the host of some of its most renowned academic facilities, most of which are affiliated with the Phrontisterion of Meizon Pella. However, the small businesses also are somewhat difficult to regulate as many come and go, and consumer trust isn't too high unless certification is given. Despite this, consumer trust isn't as low as one would expect from a relatively socialist economy. On the other hand, since certification is virtually necessary for a survival of a newly-born business, there is a phenomenon dubbed "nascent trials," which denotes a time of generally poor business between its creation and before the first regulatory visit by the government regulatory agency. As a whole, Arche is a net importer and a net investor, and its most notable trade relationship is with the Polysitonian powers. Amongst the Lagikoi, galakoi are so popular that it is the major factor in keeping the trade deficit in check as the Arche purchases construction materials such as Libane timber and Heliopolitan stone for construction in Anatole which is poor in construction materials. Arche's second biggest trading partner is the Baekryeoh, not surprising given their early contact and their good relationship. With the Baekryeoh, the Arche is a net investor, although in terms of import/export, the balance is much more even. Arche trades with all other "civilized" factions, including the ever-hated Tropas Libre. However, the trade relationships with the other nations are largely minimal and/or informal. Banking The financial aspect of the overall Imperial economic policy has been a mixed result: small businesses were easy to make, and investment spending in capital is the highest in Segmentum Asia. In exchange, cutthroat competition is quite rampant given the easy availability of loans, and Arche also ranks #1 in loan failures (however, it is a bit ambiguous, as large loans aimed at starting a business usually fail, although microloans rarely fail, very much like the case with Grameen Bank), although poverty remains low and thankfully unlikely to be life-threatening due to a solid social netting. Military Militarywise, the Arche Hellenike prefers heavily armored and armed troops in general. In fact, a standard force involves the very well-equipped Philhellenikoi Kosmonautai, wearing heavy ceramic armor based on the Hellenic linothorax. Its contact with the Baekryeoh kingdom of the Handan planet allowed them to develop the Bolos Patagikos rifle, which was derived partly from the Singijeon-launcher of the Baekryeoh kingdom, although the Baekryeoh received the Aktinobolos technology in exchange. They are known to field Technopharmakeis. Arche fields weapons that provide high firepower. Thermal Ray technology has been heavily employed militarily by the Arche. The generally higher output of stellar power available in orbital space above Meizotere Hellas as well as several other worlds such as Anatole and Polysiton made it more convenient to supply power from orbital satellites, if such weaponry isn't used by the said satellites. While the aktinobolos weaponries is purely national, the Arche has shifted to a more explosive manner from their encounters with the Korean Kingdoms employing their Singijeon weapons. Instead of using arrow-like projectiles like the Koreans, however, the Arche takes a middle ground between bullets and arrows, choosing shorter bolts loaded with explosives, increasing penetration power and making them a significant threat even to more lightly armored combat vehicles. Nonetheless, this original design proved to be rather cost-inefficient, thus the early Bolos weapons are not standard-issue. However, this does not result in a rigid military structure. Sure, Arche does employ phalanx-like inflexible yet strong approach to a portion of its army, but the Arche uses a diverse mix of troops to compensate for the weaknesses. While Arche's native weapon development favored heavy fire support, it still has multiple more mobile elements in the army, most notably the Hetairoi, who are motorized infantry on hovercycles much akin to those employed by the Polysitonians. Diplomacy While Arche Hellenike is among the most powerful states in Segmentum Asia and the prime candidate for the hegemonic power there, Arche Hellenike is not particularly aggressive. Arche Hellenike may be an expansionist state having colonized Anatole and having put its indigenous Anthropodaimones under its rule, Arche Hellenike used diplomacy and trade to achieve colonization, relying little on its military might that grew as the result of the Xenophobic War. Likewise, the Arche Hellenike is more akin to the colonial city-states like Miletos or Korinthos than it is say to the more imperialistic states like Arche Seleukeia. Likewise, Arche Hellenike's only major hostility is with the Tropas Libre, mainly due to ideological conflict and the history around the Eleutherian War. Arche on the other hand has sought friendship with other powers, and shared sentiments with the fairly open and also friendly nation of Baekryeoh. Their relationship continued to improve with each trade and technological exchanges, and the two nations have publicly declared themselves allies. Arche Hellenike is also friendly towards the Eleutheroi: Kallistrata is in some sense a mentor to the head of the Phrourion: Phrourion's status as a military force subservient to the Posterity of The Sentinels prevented it from openly declaring friendship with the Arche Hellenike. However, the Arche Hellenike's gestures towards the Posterity of The Sentinels and the Territorial Independence Army were also cordial, mainly due to the good relationship between the Arche and the Phrourion. Notable People *Kallistrata Pellaia - Founder of Arche Hellenike *Usuma Al-Shadid *Episteme *Hekkaidekanyx - Chief Technopharmakis of Anatole In-Game Appearance Cyan Sphere of Doom: Galactic War and Imperium Novum Arche does not appear in the game, although the prototype, the Demokratidai, were planned to appear on the expansion that never came to be. Cyan Sphere of Doom: Commoners' Legion The Arche is one of the two new factions to be introduced into the game alongside Tropas Libre. The Arche fills the powerhouse archetype, having the strongest base infantry in the game, the Philhellenikoi Kosmonautai, and continues to follow the path to superior firepower in the form of the Bathron Hoplikon. The Arche also has strong strike options, such as the Theristes UAV. While they have strong units, heavy fire support, and flexible quick-strike units such as the Hetairoi, the backbone of the Arche's forces remains a lumbering beast, similar to what the phalangitai of the old Diadochoi had been. As such, judicious usage of faster units to secure favorable conditions for Arche's powerful units is essential. Quick View Faction Color: Cyan and Silver Gameplay Style: Varied, ranging from direct attack, grinding siege, and less optimally harassment Preferred field of operation: None in particular Strengths: Powerful frontline units, strong fire support options, generally best range Weakness: Expensive units, slow mainline units, high reliance on high-tech units Leader *Kallistrata Pellaia :Specializes in Mechanized War :*Mechanical Units restore themselves passively outside Combat. :*Manteis are improved. :*Unique Ability: Orbital Thermal Ray Xyston Alexandrou - Deals Damage onto a target area. *Episteme :Specializes in Development :*Metallourgeion builds 33% Faster. :*Researches Technologies 33% Faster. :*Unique Ability: Calculator - Buildings carry out task 100% Faster for a set amount of time. *Usuma Al-Shadid :Specializes in Territorial Control :*Stelai build at half cost and time. :*Stelai increases nearby infantry regeneration by twice the normal rate. :*Unique Ability: Minaret - Target Stele gains an attack, while providing both line of Supply and Reinforcement. Infantry *Akrobolistai - Skirmishers *Grenadieroi - Grenadiers (Shock) *Argyraspidai - Elite Phalanx *Philhellenikoi Kosmonautai - Elite Assault Commanders *Taxiarches *Hiereus *Technopharmakeis Vehicles/Motorized Infantry *Hamaxa Hoplike - Troop Transport/Heavy Weapon Platform *Hetairoi - Elite Motorized Infantry *Hyperetes - Artillery *Theros - Superheavy Tank Robotics/Aircraft *Theristes - Air Fire Support Drone *Keraunos - Air Superiority Fighter *Promachos - Heavy Assault Unit *Mantis - Air Engineering Drone *Nomarches - Heavy Airship Structures *Bouleterion *Naos-Strategeion *Metallourgeion *Skeuotheke *Phrourion *Stele *Mylon *Ergasterion *Gymnasion Polemikon *Stoa Kybernetike *Tholos Mechanikos *Orbital Relay Category:Factions